Solar filter for solar photography?

Does anyone know of solar filters that can be used to photograph the sun? There are plenty out there for telescopes but I've not seen any for actual solar photography on DLSR cameras alone (without telescopes). Just curious.

Ok, I spoke Hoya, the NDx400 does allow for safe shots of the sun without camera sensor damage however, it is NOT for viewing. I was told it is safe to look through it long enough to compose the shot but then take your eyes away and take the shot.

Sathi wrote in post #3568036Anyone have any examples of sun shots? The sun is about the same size as the moon from our prespective right? So you would need like 1000mm focal length to get an up close pic?

I looked high and low and all I could really find were photos from DSLRs on telescopes.

I would imagine the types of shots you would get would be similar in size to moon shots. So if you have tack sharp glass and use a little USM you could crop a pretty decent photo or two.

Safe viewing - but still hurtfull - when looking directly at the sun without camera or telescope is normally around 0.1%. The Hoya filter is marginally in that range (for visible light) and with a camera lens the filter factor is much too low for viewing. And that is still under the assumption that the ND400x has the same amount of filtering of UV and IR. UV is normally trivial to block, but IR is not!!!

Hoya doesn't seem to give any info about their ND400x - they name it 400x but their text says 500x.

B+W do speicfy the transfer function for their filters. The filter 110 (1000x) are recommended for photographing glowing metal and similar.

The filter 113 (10,000x) for photographing the sun.

The filter 120 (1000,000x) for longer exposures.

They specifically say that the filters may not be used for viewing, since they do not block enough IR.

Grimm75 wrote in post #3567133Does anyone know of solar filters that can be used to photograph the sun? There are plenty out there for telescopes but I've not seen any for actual solar photography on DLSR cameras alone (without telescopes). Just curious.

For plain white light photos of the sun, you can easily make your own filter. I ordered a sheet of this film which allows 0.00001 light transmission through it, for around $30.

Make a holder that slides over the end of your lens with some cardboard and tape and you're set. Here is a shot I took with the film to give you an idea. This was through my telescope, which is a 750 mm scope. So, that will give you an idea of what you can expect for size through your lenses.

They just made a small aperture filter in this example, because they had a big aperture telescope. For normal lenses, I imagine you'd probably want to make the filter the same size as the lens.

If this is kind of what you are looking for, it's pretty cheap and easy to make. I wouldn't trust anything that isn't make for looking at the sun through. I have viewed the sun without magnification through #14 welders glass ($6), but even that was pretty bright and probably not entirely safe to my eyes.

billh101 wrote in post #3572499For plain white light photos of the sun, you can easily make your own filter. I ordered a sheet of this film which allows 0.00001 light transmission through it, for around $30.

Make a holder that slides over the end of your lens with some cardboard and tape and you're set. Here is a shot I took with the film to give you an idea. This was through my telescope, which is a 750 mm scope. So, that will give you an idea of what you can expect for size through your lenses.

They just made a small aperture filter in this example, because they had a big aperture telescope. For normal lenses, I imagine you'd probably want to make the filter the same size as the lens.

If this is kind of what you are looking for, it's pretty cheap and easy to make. I wouldn't trust anything that isn't make for looking at the sun through. I have viewed the sun without magnification through #14 welders glass ($6), but even that was pretty bright and probably not entirely safe to my eyes.

why not get a sheet and cut it to fit a cokin filter holder ?

...............I M A G E I N A T I O N..........WEBSITE...............Pixel peeping is like count the sides of a circle, pointless.

asylumxl wrote in post #3572575why not get a sheet and cut it to fit a cokin filter holder ?

You'll need it to be pretty much light tight so you don't get stray light in from the sides.

Also, keep in mind that you will only see white light. So, you will not see flares or prominences, just the disk and sunspots. If you want flares and prominences, then you're looking at an Ha filter, and you won't find any cheap solution for that one.

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